[Introduced January 28, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Energy, Industry and Mining; and then to the Committee on
Finance.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact §22-6-1 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §22C-8-2 of said code;
and to amended and reenact §22C-9-2 of said code, all relating
to modifying the definitions of "shallow well" and "deep well"
to allow a shallow well to be drilled deeper; and correcting
antiquated language throughout.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §22-6-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; that §22C-8-2 of said code be amended and
reenacted; and that §22C-9-2 of said code be amended and reenacted,
all to read as follows:

Unless the context in which used clearly requires a different
meaning, as used in this article:
(a) "Casing" means a string or strings of pipe commonly placed
in wells drilled for natural gas or petroleum or both;
(b) "Cement" means hydraulic cement properly mixed with water;
(c) "Chair" means the chair of the West Virginia Shallow Gas
Well Review Board as provided in section four, article eight,
chapter twenty-two-c of this code;
(d) "Coal operator" means any person or persons, firm,
partnership, partnership association or corporation that proposes
to or does operate a coal mine;
(e) "Coal seam" and "workable coal bed" are interchangeable
terms and mean any seam of coal twenty inches or more in thickness,
unless a seam of less thickness is being commercially worked, or
can in the judgment of the department foreseeably be commercially
worked and will require protection if wells are drilled through it;(f) "Director" means the director of the Division of
Environmental Protection as established in article one of this
chapter or such other person to whom the director has delegated
authority or duties pursuant to sections six or eight, article one
of this chapter.(g)(f) "Deep well" means any well other than a shallow well
or coalbed methane well, drilled and completed into a formation at
or below the top of the uppermost member of the "Onondaga Group";(h)(g) "Expanding cement" means any cement approved by the
office of oil and gas which expands during the hardening process,
including, but not limited to, regular oil field cements with the
proper additives;(i)(h) "Facility" means any facility utilized in the oil and
gas industry in this state and specifically named or referred to in
this article or in article eight or nine of this chapter, other
than a well or well site;(j)(i) "Gas" means all natural gas and all other fluid
hydrocarbons not defined as oil in this section;(k)(j) "Oil" means natural crude oil or petroleum and other
hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced at the well
in liquid form by ordinary production methods and which are not the
result of condensation of gas after it leaves the underground
reservoirs;(l)(k) "Owner" when used with reference to any well, shall
include any person or persons, firm, partnership, partnership
association or corporation that owns, manages, operates, controls
or possesses such well as principal, or as lessee or contractor,
employee or agent of such principal;(m)(l) "Owner" when used with reference to any coal seam,
shall include any person or persons who own, lease or operate such
coal seam;(n)(m) "Person" means any natural person, corporation, firm,
partnership, partnership association, venture, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary or other
representative of any kind, and includes any government or any
political subdivision or any agency thereof;(o)(n) "Plat" means a map, drawing or print showing the
location of a well or wells as herein defined;(p)(o) "Review board" means the West Virginia shallow gas
well review board as provided for in section four, article eight,
chapter twenty-two-c of this code;(q)(p) "Safe mining through of a well" means the mining of
coal in a workable coal bed up to a well which penetrates such
workable coal bed and through such well so that the casing or plug
in the well bore where the well penetrates the workable coal bed is
severed;(q) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Department of
Environmental Protection as established in article one of this
chapter or such other person to whom the secretary has delegated
authority or duties pursuant to sections six or eight, article one
of this chapter;
(r) "Shallow well" means any gas well, other than a coalbed
methane well, drilled no deeper than one hundred fifty feet below
the top of the "Onodaga Group":and completed in a formation above
the top of the uppermost member of the "Onondaga Group"Provided,
That in drilling a shallow well the operator may penetrate into the
"Onondaga Group" to a reasonable depth, not in excess of twenty
feet, in order to allow for logging and completion operations, but in no event may the "Onondaga Group" formation or any formation
below the "Onondaga Group" be otherwise produced, perforated or
stimulated in any manner;
(s) "Stimulate" means any action taken by a well operator to
increase the inherent productivity of an oil or gas well,
including, but not limited to, fracturing, shooting or acidizing,
but excluding cleaning out, bailing or workover operations;
(t) "Waste" means: (i) Physical waste, as the term is
generally understood in the oil and gas industry; (ii) the
locating, drilling, equipping, operating or producing of any oil or
gas well in a manner that causes, or tends to cause a substantial
reduction in the quantity of oil or gas ultimately recoverable from
a pool under prudent and proper operations, or that causes or tends
to cause a substantial or unnecessary or excessive surface loss of
oil or gas; or (iii) the drilling of more deep wells than are
reasonably required to recover efficiently and economically the
maximum amount of oil and gas from a pool; (iv) substantially
inefficient, excessive or improper use, or the substantially
unnecessary dissipation of, reservoir energy, it being understood
that nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize any
agency of the state to impose mandatory spacing of shallow wells
except for the provisions of section eight, article nine, chapter
twenty-two-c of this code and the provisions of article eight,
chapter twenty-two-c of this code; (v) inefficient storing of oil
or gas: Provided, That storage in accordance with a certificate of public convenience issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission shall be conclusively presumed to be efficient and; (vi)
other underground or surface waste in the production or storage of
oil, gas or condensate, however caused. Waste does not include gas
vented or released from any mine areas as defined in section two,
article one, chapter twenty-two-a of this code or from adjacent
coal seams which are the subject of a current permit issued under
article two of chapter twenty-two-a of this code: Provided,
however, That nothing in this exclusion is intended to address
ownership of the gas;
(u) "Well" means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored or dug
into the earth or into underground strata for the extraction or
injection or placement of any liquid or gas, or any shaft or hole
sunk or used in conjunction with such extraction or injection or
placement. The term "well" does not include any shaft or hole
sunk, drilled, bored or dug into the earth for the sole purpose of
core drilling or pumping or extracting therefrom potable, fresh or
usable water for household, domestic, industrial, agricultural or
public use;
(v) "Well work" means the drilling, redrilling, deepening,
stimulating, pressuring by injection of any fluid, converting from
one type of well to another, combining or physically changing to
allow the migration of fluid from one formation to another or
plugging or replugging of any well;
(w) "Well operator" or "operator" means any person or persons, firm, partnership, partnership association or corporation that
proposes to or does locate, drill, operate or abandon any well as
herein defined;
(x) "Pollutant" shall have the same meaning as provided in
subsection (17), section three, article eleven, chapter twenty-two
of this code; and
(y) "Waters of this state" shall have the same meaning as the
term "waters" as provided in subsection (23), section three,
article eleven, chapter twenty-two of this code.

CHAPTER 22C. ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES; BOARDS,

AUTHORITIES,COMMISSIONS AND COMPACTS.

ARTICLE 8. SHALLOW GAS WELL REVIEW BOARD.

§22C-8-2. Definitions.Unless the context in which used clearly requires a different
meaning, as used in this article:
(1) "Board" means the Shallow Gas Well Review Board provided
for in section four of this article;
(2) "Chair" means the chair of the Shallow Gas Well Review
Board provided for in section four of this article;
(3) "Coal operator" means any person who proposes to or does
operate a coal mine;
(4) "Coal seam" and "workable coal bed" are interchangeable
terms and mean any seam of coal twenty inches or more in thickness,
unless a seam of less thickness is being commercially worked, or can in the judgment of the divisiondepartment foreseeably be
commercially worked and will require protection if wells are
drilled through it;
(5) "Commission" means the oil and gas conservation commission
provided for in section four, article nine of this chapter;
(6) "Commissioner" means the oil and gas conservation
commissioner provided for in section four, article nine of this
chapter;
(7) "Correlative rights" means the reasonable opportunity of
each person entitled thereto to recover and receive without waste
the gas in and under a tract or tracts, or the equivalent thereof;
(8) "Deep well" means any well other than a shallow well or
coalbed methane well, drilled and completed into a formation at or
below the top of the uppermost member of the "Onondaga Group";
(9) "Division"Department means the state DivisionDepartment
of Environmental Protection provided for in chapter twenty-two of
this code;(10) "Director" means the director of the Division of
Environmental Protection as established in article one, chapter
twenty-two of this code or such other person to whom the director
delegates authority or duties pursuant to sections six or eight,
article one, chapter twenty-two of this code;(11)(10) "Drilling unit" means the acreage on which the board
decides one well may be drilled under section ten of this article;(12)(11) "Gas" means all natural gas and all other fluid hydrocarbons not defined as oil in subdivision (15) of this section;(13)(12) "Gas operator" means any person who owns or has the
right to develop, operate and produce gas from a pool and to
appropriate the gas produced therefrom either for such person or for
such person and others. In the event that there is no gas lease in
existence with respect to the tract in question, the person who owns
or has the gas rights therein shall be considered a "gas operator"
to the extent of seven eighths of the gas in that portion of the
pool underlying the tract owned by such person, and a "royalty
owner" to the extent of one eighth of such gas;(14)(13) "Just and equitable share of production" means, as
to each person, an amount of gas in the same proportion to the total
gas production from a well as that person's acreage bears to the
total acreage in the drilling unit;(15)(14) "Oil" means natural crude oil or petroleum and other
hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced at the well
in liquid form by ordinary production methods and which are not the
result of condensation of gas after it leaves the underground
reservoir;(16)(15) "Owner" when used with reference to any coal seam,
shall include any person or persons who own, lease or operate such
coal seam;(17)(16) "Person" means any natural person, corporation, firm,
partnership, partnership association, venture, receiver, trustee,
executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary or other representative of any kind, and includes any government or any political
subdivision or any agency thereof;(18)(17) "Plat" means a map, drawing or print showing the
location of one or more wells or a drilling unit;(19)(18) "Pool" means an underground accumulation of gas in
a single and separate natural reservoir (ordinarily a porous
sandstone or limestone). It is characterized by a single natural-
pressure system so that production of gas from one part of the pool
tends to or does affect the reservoir pressure throughout its
extent. A pool is bounded by geologic barriers in all directions,
such as geologic structural conditions, impermeable strata, and
water in the formation, so that it is effectively separated from any
other pools which may be present in the same district or in the same
geologic structure;(20)(19) "Royalty owner" means any owner of gas in place, or
gas rights, to the extent that such owner is not a gas operator as
defined in subdivision (13) of this section;(20) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Department of
Environmental Protection as established in article one, chapter
twenty-two of this code or such other person to whom the secretary
delegates authority or duties pursuant to section six or eight,
article one, chapter twenty-two of this code;
(21) "Shallow well" means any gas well other than a coalbed
methane well, drilled no deeper than one hundred feet below the top
of the "Onondaga Group":and completed in a formation above the top of the uppermost member of the "Onondaga Group"Provided, That in
drilling a shallow well the well operator may penetrate into the
"Onondaga Group" to a reasonable depth, not in excess of twenty
feet, in order to allow for logging and completion operations, but
in no event may the "Onondaga Group" formation or formation below
the Onondaga Group" be otherwise produced, perforated or stimulated
in any manner;
(22) "Tracts comprising a drilling unit" means that all
separately owned tracts or portions thereof which are included
within the boundary of a drilling unit;
(23) "Well" means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored or dug
into the earth or into underground strata for the extraction,
injection or placement of any liquid or gas, or any shaft or hole
sunk or used in conjunction with such extraction, injection or
placement. The term "well" does not include any shaft or hole sunk,
drilled, bored or dug into the earth for the sole purpose of core
drilling or pumping or extracting therefrom potable, fresh or usable
water for household, domestic, industrial, agricultural or public
use; and
(24) "Well operator" means any person who proposes to or does
locate, drill, operate or abandon any well.

ARTICLE 9. OIL AND GAS CONSERVATION.

§22C-9-2. Definitions.
(a) Unless the context in which used clearly requires a
different meaning, as used in this article:
(1) "Commission" means the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission
and "commissioner" means the Oil and Gas Conservation Commissioner
as provided for in section four of this article;
(2) "Director""Secretary" means the director Secretary of the
divisionDepartment of Environmental Protection and "chief" means
the chief of the office of oil and gas;
(3) "Person" means any natural person, corporation,
partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian,
fiduciary or other representative of any kind, and includes any
government or any political subdivision or any agency thereof;
(4) "Operator" means any owner of the right to develop, operate
and produce oil and gas from a pool and to appropriate the oil and
gas produced therefrom, either for such person or for such person
and others; in the event that there is no oil and gas lease in
existence with respect to the tract in question, the owner of the
oil and gas rights therein shall be considered as "operator" to the
extent of seven eighths of the oil and gas in that portion of the
pool underlying the tract owned by such owner, and as "royalty
owner" as to one-eighth interest in such oil and gas; and in the
event the oil is owned separately from the gas, the owner of the
substance being produced or sought to be produced from the pool
shall be considered as "operator" as to such pool;
(5) "Royalty owner" means any owner of oil and gas in place,
or oil and gas rights, to the extent that such owner is not an
operator as defined in subdivision (4) of this section;
(6) "Independent producer" means a producer of crude oil or
natural gas whose allowance for depletion is determined under
Section 613A of the federal Internal Revenue Code in effect on July
1, 1997;
(7) "Oil" means natural crude oil or petroleum and other
hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced at the well
in liquid form by ordinary production methods and which are not the
result of condensation of gas after it leaves the underground
reservoir;
(8) "Gas" means all natural gas and all other fluid
hydrocarbons not defined as oil in subdivision (7) of this section;
(9) "Pool" means an underground accumulation of petroleum or
gas in a single and separate natural reservoir (ordinarily a porous
sandstone or limestone). It is characterized by a single natural-
pressure system so that production of petroleum or gas from one part
of the pool affects the reservoir pressure throughout its extent.
A pool is bounded by geologic barriers in all directions, such as
geologic structural conditions, impermeable strata, and water in the
formations, so that it is effectively separated from any other pools
that may be presented in the same district or on the same geologic
structure;
(10) "Well" means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored or dug
into the earth or underground strata for the extraction of oil or
gas;
(11) "Shallow well" means any well other than coalbed methane well, drilled no deeper than one hundred feet below the top of the
"Onondaga Group":and completed in a formation above the top of the
uppermost member of the "Onondaga Group" Provided, That in drilling
a shallow well the operator may penetrate into the "Onondaga Group"
to a reasonable depth, not in excess of twenty feet, in order to
allow for logging and completion operations, but in no event may the
"Onondaga Group" formation or any formation below the "Onondaga
Group" be otherwise produced, perforated or stimulated in any
manner;
(12) "Deep well" means any well or coalbed methane well, other
than a shallow well, drilled and completedto in a formation at or
below the top of the uppermost member of the "Onondaga Group";
(13) "Drilling unit" means the acreage on which one well may
be drilled;
(14) "Waste" means and includes:
(A) Physical waste, as that term is generally understood in the
oil and gas industry;
(B) The locating, drilling, equipping, operating or producing
of any oil or gas well in a manner that causes, or tends to cause,
a reduction in the quantity of oil or gas ultimately recoverable
from a pool under prudent and proper operations, or that causes or
tends to cause unnecessary or excessive surface loss of oil or gas;
or
(C) The drilling of more deep wells than are reasonably
required to recover efficiently and economically the maximum amount of oil and gas from a pool. Waste does not include gas vented or
released from any mine areas as defined in section two, article one,
chapter twenty-two-a of this code or from adjacent coal seams which
are the subject of a current permit issued under article two of
chapter twenty-two-a of this code: Provided, That nothing in this
exclusion is intended to address ownership of the gas;
(15) "Correlative rights" means the reasonable opportunity of
each person entitled thereto to recover and receive without waste
the oil and gas in and under his or her tract or tracts, or the
equivalent thereof; and
(16) "Just and equitable share of production" means, as to each
person, an amount of oil or gas or both substantially equal to the
amount of recoverable oil and gas in that part of a pool underlying
such person's tract or tracts.
(b) Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the use of
the word "and" and the word "or" shall be interchangeable, as, for
example, "oil and gas" shall mean oil or gas or both.

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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to modify the definitions
of "shallow" and "deep" wells to allow a shallow well to be drilled
deeper and provide clarity to both definitions.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)